I don't know if it was Chipper himself. I don't know if it was someone that works for the Braves. I don't know if it was a diehard Atlanta fan.
But to whoever ordered a Chipper Jones cardboard cutout to be placed at Citi Field for the opening game between the Mets and the Braves - hats off to you. That is a genius troll.
If he were still active, we wouldn't put it past the Citi Field sound engineers to play some "Larry!" sound effects has he strolled to the plate, so it's all in good fun. However, he of course is not still active. The longtime Atlanta third baseman is enshrined in Cooperstown for his phenomenal career, spanning from 1993 to 2012.
And the Mets are thankful his career his over. The slugging switch-hitter feasted against his NL East rivals, with 49 career home runs against both the Mets and the Phillies, the two teams against which he hit the most dingers. A .303 career hitter, there weren't many teams Chipper didn't perform well against, and the Mets were no exception; he boosted his batting average to .309 against them.
But the 2020 Braves have a few Mets killers in their own right. Freddie Freeman -- who is in the starting lineup despite a scary experience with COVID-19 -- has notably hit very well against the Mets, with a .308/.383/.503 slash line over the past five seasons in those matchups. There's also budding star Ronald Acuna, whose career numbers against the Mets include a .339/.398/.571 slash line and six home runs in just 26 games.
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